Breakdown of O público quis ouvir a música e os atores cantaram lindamente.
e
and
lindo
beautiful
querer
to want
o ator
the actor
a música
the music
cantar
to sing
ouvir
to hear
o público
the audience
Questions & Answers about O público quis ouvir a música e os atores cantaram lindamente.
How exactly do we build the adverb lindamente?
It comes from the adjective lindo (beautiful). To form an adverb of manner, you always start with the feminine singular form of the adjective, which in this case is linda. Then, you simply attach -mente to the end, giving you lindamente (beautifully).
I don't recognize the word quis. Which verb is this?
quis is the simple past tense (Pretérito Perfeito) of querer (to want). It is a highly irregular verb, so it completely changes its stem instead of using standard past tense endings.
Since O público refers to an entire audience, why do we use the singular verb quis instead of the plural quiseram?
Even though O público represents a group of many people, the noun itself is grammatically singular. Just like the word 'crowd' in English, collective nouns in Portuguese take the 'he/she/it' singular verb form.
Could we use the verb escutar here instead of ouvir?
Yes! escutar means 'to listen' (paying active attention), while ouvir technically means 'to hear'. However, in everyday Portuguese, people frequently use ouvir for both meanings, especially when talking about music, so both are perfectly natural here.
How do we form the plural word atores?
The singular form is ator (actor). For Portuguese words that end in the consonant 'r', you form the plural by adding -es to the end, giving you atores.
Learn O público quis ouvir a música e os atores cantaram lindamente and more in Portuguese
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free